Designing for large format print

Junior Member

I'm new to the forum (but have a feeling I'm about to become a very persistant regular!)

I'm luckjy enought to have got an amazing new full-time design job and I can cope with most of what needs to be done. However - one area I'm pretty inexperienced in is designing for large format printing.

This week I was asked to design a 3.8 metre wide pop-up stand. I have the spec and have designed to the dimensions stated. However - not having designed at this size before, I was wondering if anyone has any advice of what I should be aware of? Am terrified it will print and there may be mistakes it's impossible to hide from at that size!

Moderator

Secondly, as everyone here will tell you, talk to your printer. They're the experts so will be able to foresee any pitfalls in your ideas/designs.

A lot of printers like to work 1/2 size with large format to keep file sizes down. So for example if you need a 5ft banner design it 300dpi on a 2.5ft canvas to be printed at 150dpi. Oh and don't worry bout a low dpi, most large format is viewed at a distance so 150 is ample.

Member

I usually set the artwork to 50% at 300dpi with bleed, making sure I've got enough bleed at the bottom for pop-ups. The required bleed should be indicated on the spec. Vector designs do make things easier, but if you are using images just make sure that you are using the biggest file size possible.

I second those, and please keep in mind that to high-quality serifed fonts there exist special versions for display (headlines and such) ... While they are made for sizes about 36pt, it is always better to use them than fonts made for text sizes; they have finer details around the serifs, are adjusted in weight and do look better in big sizes. Text sizes blown up tend to look chubby and too rough ...

Junior Member

Secondly, as everyone here will tell you, talk to your printer. They're the experts so will be able to foresee any pitfalls in your ideas/designs.

A lot of printers like to work 1/2 size with large format to keep file sizes down. So for example if you need a 5ft banner design it 300dpi on a 2.5ft canvas to be printed at 150dpi. Oh and don't worry bout a low dpi, most large format is viewed at a distance so 150 is ample.

Junior Member

I second those, and please keep in mind that to high-quality serifed fonts there exist special versions for display (headlines and such) ... While they are made for sizes about 36pt, it is always better to use them than fonts made for text sizes; they have finer details around the serifs, are adjusted in weight and do look better in big sizes. Text sizes blown up tend to look chubby and too rough ...

this is true and bear in mind, low quality JPGs are pants they really look bad. Use the right program to design the artwork, select the right font, if you just have PS, then select the text as crisp and your good to go

Member

Something I've not seen mentioned that should be considered is viewing distance. If the print isn't going to be viewed any closer than say 100ft for example then the resolution doesn't need to be as high as say a rollup banner viewed at 2ft away.

Junior Member

talk to your printer in regards to file formats etc most lfp's like eps files as we can then edit and adjust ourselves. also printers use a variety of different popup stands ask you printer if they have a template to design to as this will help aswell.

if giving original artwork to printer make sure to embed all fonts or convert them to curves.
and yep vector is the way forward saves us a lot of exporting/ripping time